FDA Gets Tough on Juul, Other E-Cigarette Makers

Lynette Rowe |Friday, September 14, 2018

US government considers ban on flavored e-cigarettes over youth 'epidemic'

Warning that e-cigarettes use by minors has reached "epidemic proportions", the FDA imposed fines Wednesday and sent warning letters to 1,300 retailers that sell vaping devices. For example, PM's is pushing to advertise its heat-not-burn iQOS devices as less harmful than traditional cigarettes, while BAT has planned to expand its e-cigarette and vaping offerings from 12 markets to 48 by 2018. "We're going to have to take actions".

Eaton, a professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington School of Public Health, said that "in some circumstances, such as their use by nonsmoking adolescents and young adults, their adverse effects clearly warrant concern". "Juuling", along with "vaping", has become a common term for e-cigarette use by teenagers on social media and at USA high schools.

"We're committed to the comprehensive approach to address addiction to nicotine that we announced a year ago", he said. "Hindsight, and the data that's now available to us, fully reveal these trends". "And the impact is clearly apparent to the FDA".

The FDA also announced the results of its largest enforcement effort yet against e-cigarettes.

"If a crackdown reduces the number of smokers switching to e-cigs, it would likely be bad for public health but financially a benefit for public tobacco companies", he later wrote in an email. "And the risks mounted".

Juul Labs, which controls about 70% of the market, said in its order that "acceptable flavors" play a job in adults changing their smoking habits, but added that they "are committed to combating underage employ of our product, and we want to be allotment of the resolution in preserving e-cigarettes out of the hands of children".

"I certainly am in possession of evidence that warrants that", Gottlieb said. "As health professionals, we strongly believe that access to nicotine products, and that advertising of nicotine products that appeals to teens, should be restricted to minimize youth exposure". In addition, 3.3% of middle school students called themselves current users of e-cigarettes, up from 0.6% in 2011. "And we're severely enthusiastic by a coverage commerce that may perchance perchance presumably end result in the quick removal of these flavored merchandise from the market".

"We are committed to preventing underage use of our product, and we want to be part of the solution in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people", JUUL said Wednesday.

Gottlieb also signaled that his agency is prepared to take more sweeping steps.

Teenagers' use of e-cigarettes has reached epidemic levels, United States health officials have warned. They comprise more than 97 percent of the US market for e-cigarettes. More than 2 million middle-school and high-school students used e-cigarettes in 2017.

One manufacturer in the FDA's crosshairs, Juul Labs, said in a statement, "JUUL Labs will work proactively with FDA in response to its request".

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering banning the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, citing an "epidemic" of use among teens. "With our nation's youth at risk for a lifetime of addiction to tobacco products, now is not the time to "consider" but to meaningfully act", Wimmer said. Other big players are owned by big tobacco conglomerates; Camel parent British American Tobacco makes Vuse e-cigarettes, and Marlboro parent Altria makes MarkTen e-cigarettes.